


“Thunderstorm”

by comebackjessica



Series: Tumblr prompts [6]
Category: Peaky Blinders (TV)
Genre: Alfie Wants To Propose With His Fist, Banter, Humor, M/M, Tommy Is A Cheeky Bastard, Whiskey - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-30
Updated: 2019-06-30
Packaged: 2020-05-31 03:16:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,066
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19417363
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/comebackjessica/pseuds/comebackjessica
Summary: Summer Tumblr prompt: 9. “Thunderstorm” for @WTMA. Tommy makes fun of Alfie and Alfie lets him. They also drink whiskey and pretend they're not in love.





	“Thunderstorm”

**Author's Note:**

  * For [When_Tommy_Met_Alfie](https://archiveofourown.org/users/When_Tommy_Met_Alfie/gifts).



## 

Tommy Shelby was, Alfie had decided a long time ago, a delicious little devil. Except for the times when he turned into a fucking buffoon, that was something else. Those times, Alfie had always thought, made him obsess over the Birmingham gangster even more.

“Alfie, if you keep staring at me like that, I’m taking your eyes out with my pen,” Tommy said calmly, without looking away from the invoices and logs he was currently checking. 

Alfie being Alfie had of course thoroughly ignored that remark and was now trying to burn a hole in Tommy’s forehead with his piercing gaze alone.

“Nah, mate, I think I’ll pass. There’s a storm comin’ tonight and I’m gonna need those to drive, won’t I?” He said, scratching his beard and pretending to ponder on the possibility of that tiny cat-like Birmingham boy actually getting up and attacking him. “Mm, yeah… Hate them. Fuckin’ storms. Nerve wrackin’, they are.”

“Sorry to hear that,” Tommy said in that disinterested monotone of his that Alfie knew was only a game, especially when it came to their business. 

Tommy wasn’t bored with him, no, he never got the slightest bit of chance – Alfie made sure of that – what he did was pretending extra hard not to find Alfie’s jokes amusing. Once, only once, had Alfie managed to get a laugh out of that stubborn boy, and what a sight that was. God fuckin’ damn it, yes it was. Tommy had of course only done it because he thought Alfie had his back turned to him and was busy, but he wasn’t really. The other thing about Tommy Shelby was… There were many things, Alfie decided, many things that kept him up at night and dazed during the day, but most importantly: he also kept Alfie on his tiptoes. And Alfie was enjoying that state of events way too fucking much to be sensible about it.

“Yeah, sorry about what, mate? Exactly.” Alfie decided to distract the man a little and see how far he’d let him go this time.

“Sorry about… the thing.” Tommy made a wide gesture with his pen. 

“The thing, Thomas?”

“Yeah, you just told me.” Tommy frowned when he got back to the papers and Alfie made a mental note of victory.

“Yeah, the thing with your…  _ sorry’s,  _ mate, is that you weren’t particularly sorry about affronting me in full-blown bloody public earlier this week.”

Tommy took a deep breath and closed his eyes for a second.  _ Excellent,  _ Alfie thought, having managed to irritate the man beyond his usual blank and lifeless expression.

“What the fuck are you on about?” Tommy asked, taking out a cigarette and lighting it promptly to hide his own curiosity. Alfie’s rants could end in thousands of ways and he was pretty sure he wasn’t prepared to hear the end of this one, either.

“I never got a wedding invitation, mate! I love weddings!” Alfie slammed one hand on the shiny, expensive desk, spilling ink all over the place.

Both men looked at each other, testing, sniffing, waiting, until Tommy broke the tension:

“The wedding is off, actually.” He cleared his throat and then took out a silky, embroidered handkerchief and proceeded to clean up the mess without looking at Alfie even once. 

“Ah… Cold feet, eh?” Alfie sat more comfortably in his chair, suddenly all ears.

“I loved her,” Tommy said calmly, not even trying very hard to cover up anything. Truth was, at this point, there was nothing there.

“I meant her feet, Thomas.”

“Ah. Well, I-” Tommy stopped the handkerchief thing, having realized he made the mess even worse. “Why are we discussing this, Alfie? That’s private.”

“I dunno, you started it, mate.” The thunder rumbled in the distance, suddenly derailing Alfie’s thoughts into even wilder places. “Fuck,” he murmured to himself. 

Tommy looked at him very intrigued with that unease. 

“Alfie…”

“Hmm.”

“Are you afraid of storms?”

“Don’t be ridiculous, of course not!” When another lightning was followed by a rumble of loud thunder, Alfie gripped his cane a little tighter. “Just the thunders, right. I don’t like them.”

Tommy was doing everything in his power to hide a self-satisfied smirk but failed miserably. 

“What? Oh, yeah, go ahead and laugh at me but yer the one left at the altar so who’s the real loser here, Thomas? Sit the fuck down.”

“I wasn’t left at the altar, Alfie,” Tommy explained calmly, now looking at Alfie even more intently than Alfie had before. “It was mutual-“

“Yeah, bullshit.”

Tommy put his cigarette out and took a bottle of whiskey from the desk drawer. 

“Have a drink with me, then.”

“Nah, I don’t touch that stuff, mate.”

“Alright. In that case, I’ll drink and you’ll be nervous.”

“Half a glass then, Thomas.”

“Half a glass it is, mate.”

“We ain’t mates, though.” Alfie accepted the glass and downed it in one go. “Not really.”

Tommy was visibly amused, like a cat that had just swallowed the canary whole.

“No? Then why d’you always dress up to see me, Alfie?”

“Don’t be daft.” Alfie helped himself to more whiskey. It really did help him ignore the storm outside.

“‘M not. The coat, the hat, the whole shebang…” Tommy lit another cigarette. “Wanna know what I think, Alfie?”

“Not really, no.”

“I think… You’re secretly in love with me and that’s why you always bring me all the papers in person. Dressed up like a million dollar trooper.”

“Thomas…” Alfie hesitated before downing another drink. The tension between them was thick enough to suffocate a town. “D’you really want to lose a body part today, lad? What, first with the absolute fuckin’ insolent remarks, right, and now using my good nature, too...”

Alfie never got the chance, however, to further describe his apparent suffering, since Tommy reached for him, grabbed his shirt and pulled Alfie in for a kiss with all his might. For a person so tiny, Alfie thought while reciprocating without hesitation, that particular fuckin’ Shelby was indeed pretty strong. Especially when he wanted something, and at that very moment the thing Tommy wanted was apparently Alfie. So who was he to refuse that? Let’s be honest, Alfie was not one to turn down a man this good-looking. Even with the thunderstorm outside, Alfie knew he wouldn’t run. Not when the circumstances had finally aligned just the way he wanted.


End file.
